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« Housing Bubble? | Main | Some Advice for Harold Ford Jr. » July 13, 2005Why is Corker Silent on the Kelo Decision?One of the current mysteries of the campaign in Tennessee for the 2006 election to the U.S. Senate is why GOP candidate Bob Corker - former mayor of Chattanooga and a wealthy real estate developer - has said nothing publicly about the controversial decision handed down three weeks ago by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Kelo v. New London. That decision, you may recall, gave government the right to take property from one private property owner (paying "fair" compensation, of course, - even if the owner didn't want to sell), and give it to another private owner, for any reason the government choses to do so. Now, a reader from Chattanooga has emailed me a possible answer. I have not verified its veracity, but am presenting to my readers in Tennessee, especially the Chattanooga area, in hopes that you help me to do so. The reader writes: Right now this is still in the speculative stage but the reason Mayor Corker is mum on Kelo is because he may have some 'splainin to do about his own dealings with eminent domain. You may be familiar with Jeff Styles who is the main host for WGOW in Chattanooga. He had a guest the other day who had a very interesting story regarding his own property and the city of Chattanooga. In a nutshell, he owned a piece of property with a building on it at McCallie Avenue near the UTC campus. The city sent him numerous letters telling him to "improve" it which was his intention anyway. But he didn't move fast enough for them so, from what this guy said, they forced him to sell it for $60,000 in November of 2004. The guy ended up getting an attorney after the sale and began to look into legal action. But when they went to look at the city records it had been sold in January of 2005 for $117,000 to... the city of Chattanooga!Every time I have mentioned Corker in relation to the Kelo case I have mentioned his background as a real estate developer and as a mayor of Chattanooga who lead the city's efforts to redevelop the city's downtown riverfront - because I had a hunch those parts of his background might be related in some way to his reluctance to make any public statements about the Kelo decision. Stay tuned... Posted in Property Rights/Kelo
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I live in Chattanooga and this building is one of the worst in the city. The condition was only 1%! I am glad a local non-profit will repair the building in a timely manner. Here is an article from chattanoogan.com: Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise plans to restore a dilapidated former mansion on McCallie Avenue, though the agency may lose money on the project. Bob McNutt, CNE official, said the neighborhood wants the long-vacant home at the corner of Central Avenue retained, and he said doing so is part of CNE's mission. CNE recently asked developers to make proposals on the restoration, but did not get any takers. Meanwhile, the former owner of the property, James Jabaley, questioned why CNE did not buy the property from him instead of a subsequent owner at a price about $50,000 higher. He sold it last Nov. 4 to Robert Clayton Pritchard for $66,000. Mr. Pritchard then sold it at the end of January to CNE for $117,500. Mr. McNutt said CNE got involved after Mr. Pritchard was making plans to demolish the three-story home and put in a commercial structure. It is across from where a Dairy Queen was recently torn down and replaced by a $2 million Kanku's convenience store. He said the house was built about 1930 and was owned by the Davenport family. On the price, Mr. McNutt said, "We pay what we have to pay." Mr. Jabaley originally was asking $150,000 for the property, and he said he feels it was worth that price. The assessor's office has the house valued at just $4,100 and the land at $32,900. It lists the condition of the house at just 1 percent. Mr. McNutt said the house does need extensive repairs, including work on the roof, but he said the agency plans to move forward on its own soon. He said it has not been decided whether it will be put back into use as a single-family home or as condominiums. Mr. McNutt said Mr. Jabaley "had the property for many years and never did anything to fix it up." Mr. Jabaley, 47, said he was attending UTC during those years, and he said, after he graduated, he began remodeling it. He said he has carried out a number of prior remodeling jobs. He said he started tearing out sections of the upper section of the house after graduating. He said the city dubbed the property as one of the 10 worst in the city, and put up a large sign that had his name on it. He said that was "embarrassing to me and to my family." Mr. Jabaley said he finally placed the house with Crye-Leike realtors. He said Mr. Pritchard apparently bought it without ever going inside. He said he had the house boarded up, and the boards were never taken down so far as he knows. He said when the $66,000 offer came in, his realtor, Jay Robinson, told him, "You'd better sell it now, or they're going to tear it down." Mr. Jabaley said prior to the sale, he had conducted a tour of the house for Mr. McNutt and another CNE official. He said they talked about providing partial financing, but nothing came of it. Mr. Jabaley said at the closing, the purchaser said he was an airline pilot from Orlando with relatives on Lookout Mountain. Mr. Jabaley said he did not know that CNE had wound up with the house until he recently went to the courthouse to check the records. Posted by: John Johnson at July 14, 2005 02:46 PMPost a comment
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